I'd by lying if I said I missed the days when blasting invading space craft with 8-bit energy beams cost a pocket full of quarters. The gameplay itself, however, remains a treasure of nostalgia. One that Syder Arcade HD is blatantly exploiting to get $1 from me and I will happily pay it. Why? Because blowing crap up is awesome.

The game is a top-down free-scroller, which means you actually have a level of control over your movement. You'll also get a number of weapons for killing aliens, shields to defend yourself, and multiple ships to choose from. Oh, and best of all? No in-app purchases!

The whole game costs $0.99 up front and that's it. No worries beyond that. In fact, the developers seem to go out of their way to ensure to ensure the experience is as much about the fun and as little about the cheap gimmicks to get you hooked as possible. No grinding, no upgrades, no mess. Oh, and there's this quote from the app's description:

"This game will bring you back in time, when bulky starships were cool and games were about swearing madly at your computer."

Now that's what I'm talking about. Grab the game via the widget below.

Ok, do explain to me - what's your gripe with in-app purchases? If done right they can be quite good and convenient, no?

AkumajoBelmont

Not all in-app purchases are necessarily bad, but the problem is that the vast majority of developers are implementing them in a way that turns everything into a grind. Whether it be a racer, platformer, shooter, puzzle game, RPG, whatever the genre, they all become the same thing - a grind for coins, and less about the actual gaming. It homogenizes everything, and takes the general focus off the gameplay.

Anyhoo I downloaded Syder Arcade last night, after seeing it mentioned on DroidGamers, and it is indeed awesome. The most fun I've had with my tablet for quite a while. And the soundtrack is amazing. Definitely worth the 99¢.

My point exactly - not all in-app purchases are bad. It's a great option, and it's very useful in a lot of the cases. Sure, a lot of game(!) developers misuse it to milk users, but the way a lot of people react lately it makes it sound like in-app purchases are evil. Which they are not!

AkumajoBelmont

I think what he was getting at was that the particular bleed-em dry, pay to do everything model is so prevalent, that when you mention IAP, it's the first thing comes to mind. For every game that implements it well, there's a hundred other that don't. I fully agree with you that IAP can be done, and done well for that matter. But I also understand that IAP turn many away, myself included most of the time. Every game seems to use the coin/gem combo, and it's getting pretty old. But fair point my friend. The internet sees in black and white, and any bandwagon will do most of the time :P

Andrew

Personally I absolutely refuse to buy anything from a game with in-app purchases. If there's an option to buy the full game I'll always go with that. I strongly object to the way games are going where you buy drips and drabs of content.

True, they way they milk users is completely wrong in my opinion as well. But it doesn't mean that in-app purchases are bad.

Heck, if I installed a game, and could do an upgrade to the full version from within the game with an in-app purchase (rather then installing the full version, deleting the free one and losing all my progress), I'd be happy! It's a lot more convenient!